This is admittedly one data point, but one has to assume that Citi is making similar calls to others similarly situated. From a reader: I had an interesting conversation yesterday with a neighbor of mine. He said that he and his wife received a call from Citibank offering to refinance their mortgage at a lower […]
Read more...Submitted by Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns. I got a tip from a friend Andrew about a sale of assets by Wells Fargo (WFC) which raises a number of interesting questions. He sent me the following 14 July article from the Milwaukee Business Journal. Wells Fargo sold $600 million in mostly non-performing subprime loans to […]
Read more...This from an attentive (and well known) investor. I’d provide a link except the press release is not yet posted on Dodd’s website United States Congress For Immediate Release July 10, 2009 Contact: Kirstin Brost/Justine Sessions, Dodd, 202-224-7391 Steve Adamske, Frank, 202-225-7141 Dodd, Frank Ask Regulators to Address 2nd Mortgages Valuation Problems that Discourage Loan […]
Read more...Submitted by Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns. The Nationwide, the world’s largest building society, is now bringing back the dreaded 125% mortgage. While the lender claims these mortgages are a “niche product” designed for customers of Nationwide in negative equity, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is looking to ban this type of lending. From the […]
Read more...One of our pet peeves is that the powers that be are desperate to recreate status quo ante, as far as the financial crisis is concerned, when that is what created the mess in the first place. And the tinkering being done around the margins is not sufficient to remedy many of the shortcomings. Take […]
Read more...In case you haven’t figured it out, Ed’s post on Sweden highlights an important and troubling development. It seems that central banks have locked themselves into “if the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail” behavior with the move to negative rates. Since they are best able to dispense […]
Read more...Michael Lewis has a generally very good piece in Vanity Fair on the AIG Financial Products mess, filing in some bits that were missing from the equation. He does go a bit overboard in saying nice things about Jake DeSantis, the man who wrote the New York Times “Dear AIG: I Quit!” op ed. To […]
Read more...Submitted by Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns. Yves said her piece about the new affordable FHFA program to allow home ‘owners’ in negative equity to stay in their homes. And I had a crack at it yesterday as well. But, I have some thoughts to run by you here using a specific example of an […]
Read more...If you had any doubt that the intent of policy, such as the heroic efforts by the Fed to channel money to the mortgage market my manipulating spreads of mortgage paper so as to lower borrowing costs, was not merely to clear inventory but boost prices, today’s action should put your mind at rest. The […]
Read more...Just as one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter, so to is a return to prudent lending practices now leading to “unintended consequences”, namely fewer loans being extended. The post-bubble spin-mongering continues. New lending standards now mandated by Freddie and Fannie as a result of a settlement between New York State and the mortgage giants […]
Read more...Submitted by Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns. This morning I was reading Simon Johnson’s excellent post “President Obama’s Regulatory Reforms Announcement: A Viewer’s Guide” about what Barack Obama should say when he makes his regulatory reform pitch today at 12:30 PM. I agree with what he has to say about the need to re-assure us […]
Read more...Submitted by Edward Harrison of the site Credit Writedowns .It’s about time. The SEC has finally charged a high level executive in the banking industry in connection with activities that led to the largest bubble in U.S. history. The accused, as expected, is Angelo Mozilo, otherwise known as “The Man with the Tan.” You will […]
Read more...The Fed has a mess on its hands. Yields on ten and thirty year Treasuries have shot up in the last few days as investors have become fixated on burgeoning Treasury supply in coming months and years. and, as belief in the “green shoots” story is rising, a shift to riskier assets. In addition, while […]
Read more...In 2007, Dean Baker proposed an idea he called “own to rent“, in which homeowners facing foreclosure would be given the option of staying in their home indefinitely, provided they paid market rent. The notion was that stressed families would be spared the cost and disruption of moving if they were indeed viable renters (a […]
Read more...Alan Greenspan tells us today that he sees signs of the housing market bottoming. The Financial Times tells us that delinquencies are increasing in prime mortgages, which are even harder to modify than subprime. I am beginning to get tired of the new mortgage lingo, or rather, the slippage of old mortgage lingo. In the […]
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